Twice this week, the immortal Stan Lee, the bard who created Spider-Man, the X-Men, and other great comicbook legends, graced the TV with his brash brand of tulmultuous television. First he invited us to witness the birth (or after birth) of a new superhero named Lightspeed. Before I go off on a tangent this made for Sci-Fi movie had all the excitement and fun of unsalted soda crackers. To wrap it up in a nutshell a soldier is hurt, gains super powers, and beats the bad guy. The plot was thin, the acting stale, and the hero was fat! Yuck. Nuff' said.

So, the following evening, Stan returns to Sci-Fi with a new reality show called "Who Wants to be a Superhero?" I expected it to be slow, obnoxious, and utterly pathetic; simply another reality show, but this time with people in tights. As it turned out, the contestants were fun, motivated and quite a blast to watch. As Stan put it, they couldn't test to see who could fly or stop a speeding train with a pinky finger but he was looking for that special person who had the heart of a hero.

In the opening episode two heroes were eliminated for not having the qualities becoming of a hero. There first mission was to answer a call from Stan and quickly change from civilian clothes to their costumes then run to an archway as fast as possible. As they ran by, a little girl cried for help because she lost her mommy. Some of the heroes stopped to help her while others hurried by. One hero, Major Victory, raced through the course like a muscular version of Ace Ventura as he helped the little lost girl. Those who passed her up were devistated at how they missed her. Stan scolded them then dropped the hatchet.

This was good, clean fun. I found myself cheering for my favorites along side my sons. I'm looking forward to next week's installment as the heroes get newer, flashier costumes and greater challenges to prove who has the spirit to be the best hero.